Singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III describes his solo showcase "Surviving Twin" as a "posthumous collaboration" with his late father, famed Life magazine columnist Loudon Wainwright Jr. It's also a poignant, loving, sometimes painful look at the son's relationship with his father, interspersed with videos of family photos and home movies. During the show, Wainwright III performs monologues of excerpts from his father's columns — some of them written in the 1940s before Wainwright III was born — as well as a number of his songs. In a June review, The New York Times called "Twin" "a bristling, acerbic, ultimately affecting family album of a show, with father-son resentments, hostilities and resemblances laid out for all to see."

Author Joan Didion chronicles the year after the death of her husband in "The Year of Magical Thinking." The book, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, details how Didion dealt with her grief after her husband, John, died in 2003, while also caring for her daughter, who was hospitalized just days before John Didion died. Didion adapted the book into a play in 2007; the play ran on Broadway and starred Vanessa Redgrave in the solo role. Wendy Ishii takes on the title role in a production by the Colorado-based Bas Bleu Theatre Company this week at Hubbard Hall. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. $10-$25; free for children under age 5. Hubbard Hall, 25 E. Main St., Cambridge. 677-2495; http://www.hubbardhall.org

Friday-Sunday

Confetti Fest is a chance for local playwrights, directors, actors and technicians to shine. They'll do that at Confetti Fest 11; the short play festival features six new works by Capital Region playwrights. More than 40 artists are involved in the productions. The plays are "Nailing It" by Mark Dalton, directed by Jason LaSusa; "The Seven Deadlies" by Amy Sarah LaMena, directed by Matthew Teichner; and "String Game" by Katherine Ambrosio, directed by John A. Nickles. Also, "Goodnight Lizzie" by Celina Pulenskey, directed by Nick Himmelwright; "Stars" by Lydia Nightingale, directed by Patricia Keister; and "The Play About Your Shoulder" by Alex Hovet, directed by Kat Fronheiser. 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. $10-$15. Albany Masonic Hall, 67 Corning Place, Albany. 460-1167; http://www.confettistage.org

Saturday

The Friends of Chamber Music kick off their fall season with a feast of early music as the Baltimore Consort performs a program titled "The Food of Love: Songs, Dances and Fancies for Shakespeare." It contains music written for 10 different plays of the Bard by greats like Morley, Dowland, Johnson and others. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Emma Willard School, 285 Pawling Ave., Troy. $15-$25. Call 833-1874 or visit: http://www.friendsofchambermusic.org